New ePassports launched

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Australia's new ePassports - the first to use facial recognition
technology - are the most secure ever created, Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer says.

The new passports, launched in Adelaide today, carry an embedded
microchip that contains the digitised image and personal details of
the passport holder.

Downer said these details could be read electronically and would
be used in conjunction with facial recognition technology to
provide an extra level of certainty whenever the holder was
identified.

Costing $172 - $19 more than previous passports - ePassports
will be phased in as current passports expire over the next 10
years.

Australia has joined Belgium and Thailand among the first
nations to employ the ePassports.

Downer, who was the recipient of the first Australian ePassport,
said stolen passports would now be quickly identifiable.

"If somebody wanted to try to enter Australia illegally by
stealing an Australian passport, when they get to our border
control the passport will be read by the technology of the
airport," he said.

"It will be able to identify the facial features of the person
coming in and match them with the facial features on the microchip,
and if they don't match it's clear the passport's been stolen.

"Photographs on the face of it don't always look that familiar,
but when you have the biometric reading done alongside the physical
features of the person, then you get a much better sense of whether
it is the person."

One drawback of the facial recognition readings is that they are
only accurate once a person has passed their formative years.

However, Downer assuaged fears the passports would carry more
personal information than the holder knew about.

"The only information on this chip is the information that's
already on the passport - name, nationality, date of birth, gender,
birthplace, when it is valid, signature and photograph," he
said.

Electronic readers will be installed at passport offices and
airports across the country so holders will be able to check the
information contained on the microchip.